Use the agent management interface to define server classes

The agent management interface is an interactive, visual tool for creating and editing server classes, which map agents to deployment apps. You run it on agent management. For an introduction to the interface, including details on how to access it, see "Agent management UI overview".

The interface saves server class configurations to a serverclass.conf file. The first time you save a server class, the interface creates the serverclass.conf file under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local on agent management. For information on serverclass.conf, see "The serverclass.conf file".

Note: For some advanced server class configurations, you might need to directly edit serverclass.conf. For information about the limitations of the interface, see "Compatibility and agent management UI". For details on editing serverclass.conf directly, see the topic "Use serverclass.conf to define server classes".

Define a server class

A server class maps agents to deployment apps. Therefore, before you define a server class, you need to configure the agents and create the apps that you intend to map. For more information, see Configure agents and Create deployment apps.

After you set up the agents and apps, they are displayed automatically on the interface.

There are three steps to defining a server class:

  1. Create the server class.

  2. Add deployment apps to the server class.

  3. Specify agents for the server class.

You can perform steps 2 and 3 in either order. You can also change the set of agents and apps at any time.

Note: Each time you use the agent management interface to edit and save a server class configuration, the agent management will reload and then deploy the latest app content to any agents that haven't already received it. For example, if you add an app to the server class, all agents in the server class will then receive it. If you add some new agents to the server class but don't change the apps, only the new agents will get the distribution. For a detailed discussion of what actions prompt the agent management to deploy or redeploy apps, see Deploy apps to agents.

1. Create the server class

To create the server class, go to the agent management interface, as described in Access the agent management interface, and perform the following steps:

  1. Select the Server Classes tab.

  2. Select the New server class button.

  3. In the pop-up window, in the Server class name field, enter a name for the server class and select Save.

This takes you to the page with the detail of a newly created server class. You can now add forwarders under the Forwarders tab, and applications, under the Applications tab.

Note: The server class names must be unique and they cannot contain spaces.

2. Add deployment apps to the server class

When you save a server class, the interface takes you to the page with details of this server class. To add apps to the server class, follow the steps:

  1. Select the Applications tab.

  2. Select the Edit applications button. This takes you to the Edit applications page. On this page, there are two columns: Unassigned Applications and Assigned Applications, with a list of apps under each. For a new server class, all apps will initially be in the Unassigned column.

  3. To add an apps to the server class, select them, then select the right arrow (The arrow icon pointing to the right). This moves these apps to the Assigned Applications column.

  4. After you select all the apps for the server class, select Save. If you haven't yet added any agents, you can do it now.

When you save the app settings, agent management reloads and deploys the apps to the set of agents, assuming you have already specified the agents for this server class. If you have yet to specify the agents, the apps will get deployed once you do.

3. Specify agents for the server class

When you save a server class, the interface takes you to the page where you can add apps and agents. To add agents to the server class:

  1. Select the Forwarders tab and select the Edit forwarders button.

    The Edit forwarders page opens. (You can also edit the set of agents later, by going to the Server Classes tab and selecting the Edit forwarders button for the particular server class.)

    On the Edit forwarders page, there are three buttons, All, Matched and Unmatched, followed by a list of agents. The agents listed when you select the All button will be the ones that you earlier configured for this agent management, as described in "Configure agents". The Matched and Unmatched buttons list agents according to whether they match the filters that you've created at the top of the page. For a new server class, no agents initially appear under the Matched tab.

  2. To add agents to the server class, you do not specify them individually. Instead, you create filters that dynamically include or exclude agents. You enter the filters using the fields: Include, Exclude, and Filter by Machine Type. There's a lot to learn about creating agent filters, and so the details are covered in a separate topic, Set up agent filters.

    After you enter one or more filters, select the Preview button to view the set of matched agents.

    If you have a long list of agents and you only want to view a subset of them, you can use the filter field to the right of the All, Matched, Unmatched buttons. This particular filter only limits the agents shown in the table; it does not filter the set of agents included in the server class. You can filter on the columns in the agent table; for example, host name or IP address.

  3. After you specify the agents you want in the server class, click Save. If you haven't yet added any apps, you can now do so.

When you save the agent settings, agent management reloads and then deploys the set of apps for this server class to any agents that haven't already received them. It only does this if you have already specified the apps for the server class.

View a server class

To view the contents of a server class:

  1. Go to the Server Classes tab on the home page for Agent Management. This shows you a list of all server classes on the agent management.

  2. Click on the server class you want to view. This takes you to a page for that server class. The page contains three sections:
    • Details - this page lists the server class's reload time, architecture, and repository.
    • Forwarders - this page lists the agents assigned to that server class. From here, you can also edit agent assignment.
    • Applications - this page lists the applications assigned to the server class. From here, you can also edit configurations.

For information on managing apps, see "Use agent management UI to manage apps". For information on managing agents, see "Use agent management UI to manage clients".

Edit a server class

You can edit a server class at any time. On the Agent Management home page, go to the Server Classes tab. Locate the server class you want to edit and select the three dots (The three dots icon) in the last column for that server class. You have the following options:

  • View details
  • Edit forwarders
  • Edit applications
  • Rename
  • Delete

When you select Save after editing the set of agents or apps, agent management reloads and makes the latest app content available to any agents that haven't already received it.